Australian Graphic Novels for Libraries and Schools

This is a page that gives information on how to list Australian Graphic Novels with local library suppliers so that public libraries can order them.

This is an effort to introduce more Australian-made graphic novels to libraries/schools, and borrows from the Australian Graphic Novels and Comics website run by the Australia Library and Information Association (ALIA), which lists librarian-recommended Australian comics, and has teaching resources and links.

This yearly list was originally compiled for the annual Comic-Conversation Library Festival (CCV), a Sydney-based public library festival that celebrates local comics culture with events, exhibitions, and talks across libraries. It was first started by Karen Dwarte of Ashfield library in 2014.

The aim of CCV is to promote the works of the local comics community and highlight the graphic novel collections held in libraries. CCV was on hold in 2020 due to COVID 19, but it has returned in 2024.

The Original Yearly Booklist

This is a yearly “buy list” for Australian libraries who want to buy Australian graphic novels from library suppliers for their collections. After a while, ALIA graphic novels group got their own site and I started running a database listing Australian comics, so here is some of the older content.

How to List your Graphic Novel with Library Suppliers

Why List with Library Suppliers?

Libraries often want to order the books of local creators, especially if they’re doing a workshop or talk with the library. A library can buy directly from a creator, but books are not allowed on the library shelves unless they’ve been catalogued, and libraries don’t do their own cataloguing – library suppliers do. If a library buys a book from a creator, they will have to send it out especially for cataloguing, which will cost extra time and money. For that reason, libraries nearly always prefer to order from library suppliers.

Requirements for Listing with Library Suppliers

You can list as many books as you have available and are able to provide as your own distributor. That said, if you already have a distributor for your book, you won’t need to list with library suppliers. Your books:

  • Must have a valid ISBN. ISSNs won’t cut it – those are for periodicals, not books
  • Must be a properly-bound book (ie. perfect bound, no spiral spine binding)
  • There is a preference for standard trade sizes

Listing with James Bennett

https://bennett.com.au/publisher-services
James Bennett is one of the largest library suppliers on the east coast of Australia, and the link above tells you how small press should list their books with them. Read up on it, download the form, fill it in and send it to the email address. Please make sure to mention that it’s an Australian graphic novel. (Note: If the book is more than 1 year old, then make sure to let them know that it doesn’t need to be in their “New Titles” database, just in their regular one.)

Listing with ALS

https://www.alslib.com/authors/
Here’s the link to the ALS website that allows authors to list their books. Please make sure to mention that it’s a graphic novel by using that email address to let them know that you’ve listed a book that is an Australian graphic novel.

How to Price Your Books

Ideally, your books will be not much more than $30 for children’s fiction, and not much more than $60 for adult fiction. You will be required to provide to all library suppliers at 45% discount off the retail price, PLUS free shipping. Regardless of what your book’s normal retail price is, it’s recommended you list it at a point where you can at least break even.

  • Example: “Fabled Kingdom” v1 is normally $20 when I sell it, but it’s listed at $30 with library suppliers. When they place an order with me, I bill them at a 45% discount + free shipping, meaning that I charge $16.50 for book (with free shipping). “Fabled Kingdom” v1 costs $7 to print and $8 to ship, so I make $1.50 off that sale).

If you don’t list your book at 45% discount with free shipping, the extra cost will be pushed onto the libraries, and they will be less inclined to order your books. Please remember that libraries have limited funding.

Sales Cannot be Guaranteed

Unfortunately, listing your books do not guarantee any library sales. What it does do is make it easy and cheap for a library to order directly from library suppliers (assuming they use said library suppliers). Books come to the library catalogued and shelf-ready, which makes it immediately ready to be shelved and read.

To get library sales, you still have to market to libraries yourself. If libraries don’t know about your books, they can’t order it in. One of the best ways to get libraries to order your book in is to do workshops or talks for them — comic workshops are extremely popular with kids during the school holidays.

Another way is to directly contact ALIA Graphic Novel Group and ask them to review your work. Since they are a group of graphic novel-loving librarians, if they think your work suitable for libraries, they will add you to their promotional list.